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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
( 424 )
and look down on the Nubra valley, the first green spot and inhabited country since leaving Sânjti. Drop down to it by a very steep zigzag path and camp at Changlang, a small cluster of eight or ten Tatar huts with fields around.
Panâmik, 11 miles.—Down the valley over two long strips of gravel talus cut by the deep boulder bed of the Ttityâlâk River; where it joins the Nubra stream, and is crossed by a timber bridge. Then along patches of turf and brushwood jangal of buckthorn, tamarisk, myricaria, and rose to the cultivation and village of Panâmik—to comfort and supplies.
Tagar, 13 miles.—Down the left bank of the river as in last stage. Midway cross a rocky ridge abutting on the stream, with the populous village of Chirâsa on the opposite bank.
Sati, 15 miles.—Down the river course, as in last stage passing villages and cultivation, to its junction with the ShMyok River. Then up the right bank of the latter to Sati passing villages and cultivation with patches of brushwood and pasture between on the way. From Sati there are two routes to Leh. First, the direct route by the Khardung Pass. Second, the river route by the Digar Pass. The first is in three stages, viz.—(1.) Cross the Shâyok by ford or boat according to the season, and pass up the narrow defile of Rong, crossing its torrent several times, four miles; then rise up to a high cultivated plateau, and at three miles more camp at Khardung village. (2.) Poln, 15 miles. Up the course of a mountain torrent, cross a tributary from the right, and pass over moraine banks to an upland turfy slope. Continue up its winding and narrowing course to the foot of the Pass. • Then pass a pool and glacier, and rise over latter by very steep ascent to the crest of the Khardung Pass, nearly 18,000 feet high, and descend by a very stony, steep zigzag to Poll camp ground on a turfy flat, cut by a rivulet coming down from a glacier at the head of a glen to the right. (3.) Leh, 7 miles. Down a winding gully, and over moraine banks, the road gradually improving to the cultivation of Leh, and then to the town itself. This is a very difficult route. The other continues down the river from Sati.
Digar (height 13,080 feet), 17 miles.—Cross river, and then up its left bank for 12 miles. Then rise out of river bed up to a high flat talus of bare clay and gravel. Cross it and pass round a bill spur, and ascend to fields and houses of Digar in an amphitheatre of granite hills.
Polo Digar, 14 miles.—Up a rising moorland amongst granite boulders and across peat beds and bogs for five miles to Poki camp ground on a spur where the ascent increases. Then up a long stony slope covered with snow patches at end of June, and rise suddenly to crest of Digar Pass, 17,900 feet high. Pass through a narrow gap, and drop by a very steep and rough path to the other side; follow a winding, turfy glen and camp at Pohl huts near a thin rivulet. Some pasture here; but no fuel. Pass very difficult.
Leh (height 11,538 feet) or Ladakh, 10 miles.—Down the glen, across its stream to cultivation and homesteads of Sabo, and then up the valley to Leh.
ROUTE II.
YÂRKAND TO LADÂKH via KUGIÂR. (AUTHORITY, DR. BELLEW, JUNE 1874.)
Yarkand to Yangichik, 12 miles.—Across a populous and cultivated plain well stocked with trees, mostly willow, poplar, mulberry, alsaguns, and orchard trees. At five miles cross Zilchak stream by rustic bridge, and at six miles on forci the Zarafshân or Yarkand river, and camp another mile on at the Yangichik Settlement.
Yakshamba 136z6r, 18 miles. —Over cultivated plain with farmsteads, meadows, and marshes. At 13 miles pass through Posgi.m, and on to camp over freely irrigated tract of cultivation.
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